The Kew Gardens Orchid Festival is on until the 8th March and I would thoroughly recommend a visit. It’s the best display I’ve ever seen there – the 30th year of their Orchid Festival and this year it’s inspired by the biodiversity of China.
China is of course well known for it’s love of orchids (they have 1,787 orchid species so far), but they definitely see the flowers as symbols of purity, elegance, friendship, sincere love and outstanding talent.
So many incredible varieties – some even edible!
Everywhere you looked, amongst the orchids were the wonderful Chinese lanterns, gongs, noticeboards of fascinating information and gorgeous creatures all made by a team that have clearly spent months of intense activity putting it together.
It truly is a feast for the eyes – especially as a passionate orchid lover myself.
The Chinese Dragon is a symbol of good fortune and auspicious power and very relevant for Chinese New Year which is starting tomorrow. Of course, this year is the Year of the Horse, but Dragon Dances are a very significant part of all the festivities and their spectacular Dragon in this display is wonderful:-
The Nine Koi:-
Monkeys and also the white haired Langur Monkeys:-
Of course, there had to be a couple of Panda’s:-
The Phoenix – a symbol of nobility and elegance:-
This edible orchid is so interesting – so I’ve left the details of how it grows on the photo for you to read:-
Think this is a Water Buffalo – fabulous:-
